Complementary and alternative veterinary medicine and urologic conditions

l' nterest in complementary and alternative approaches to the • treatment of urologic conditions is present in both human and veterinary medicine. Fair 1 recently reviewed the role of nutrients (including dietary fat intake, vitamin E, lycopene, and selenium), exercise therapy, stress reduction, group support and spirituality, acupuncture, herbs, and aromatherapy in the treatment of urologic diseases, mainly cancer. In addition, a search of Medline returned citations (number) for Urinary and Alternative (2,256), Complementary (481), and Extract (592). Although many of the alternative and complementary citations did not refer to the meaning of these terms in the present context, many did. The term "extract" was used in an attempt to identify citations referring to herbal extracts. This review is primarily intended to stimulate interest and debate in this area of veterinary medicine, and to suggest some of the issues and problems related to the study of complementary and alternative veterinary medical (CAVM). The ideas and conclusions result from an unsystematic review of some of the relevant literature, and my own experience in studying two such approaches. It is not intended to provide a comprehensive review of the topic in veterinary or human medicine. I will first present my and others' experience with Choreito (Fig 1), a Kampo (Japanese herbal) preparation used for the treatment of urinary stone disease, and with polysulfated glycosaminoglycan, an extract of birch bark, for the treatment of interstitial cystitis (IC) in humans and cats.